Surface maintainer



3 Sheets-Sheet 1 C. QJOHNSON. INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY Aug. 10', 1926.-

c. o. JOHNSON I SURFACE MAINTAINER Filed Oct. 19, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 c. 0. Jofl/vsa/v. INYENTOR.

ATTORNEY Aug; 10 1926.

' C. 0. JOHNSON SURFACE MAINTAINER Filed Oct. 19, 1925 s shun-shat 5 C. ado/fuse IN VEN TOR.

ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 10, 1926.

STATE-S".

rsasssa PATENT OFFICE"...

CARL O; JOHNSON, OF LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, AS SIGNOBJ HIGHWAY? MAI NTA-INEB; COMPANY; OF HAVELOCK, NEBRASKA, A CORPORATION OF. NEBRASKA.

SURFACE MAINTAIN ER- My." invention re1ates:to.-implements of thekind which are adapted for the purpose of maintaining the. surface of. a road: in good:

condition as: distinguished from those implements whose functionis tO'bH-lld' the road.

The drags which; are. commonly used for proper: condition. They can operate only over narrowrstripsiofithe roadway at a time. Both. the cost. of the drag; with its depreciation and upkeep and the labor cost of opscraper frame;

Figure 21s aseictlonal vlew'ofithescraperer ating the: drag: are. excessive. Briefly then, the; object? of my-invention is the provision of a. surface-maintainer. which will do all: of'

theiworlnwhich the drag iiscapable of doing, which; will; work the road over. one-half or. less'of the; widtlr atone time, which will do' the work much more. efiectively and which maybe operatedl atrlower implement and labor costs than; the corresponding costsof operating: dragsz Havingin View these objects-and others which will be; nientionedf.

in the following descriptiom. Lwill'now' refer'to'the: drawingainwhiclp- V v Figure '1. issa'. plan: View of the scrapers and blade: showing the. relation to the frame.

Figure? 3. is a. perspective View of the gate. Figure 4. is a; View inzpe'rsp'ectiye of the mechanism: for: adjusting. the front; portion of: the scraper'friame and; showing also the link device? for" locking the? scraper frame to the vehicle: frame; 1

Figureoris aiperspective iew: of the means for. adjusting the 'rean portion ofthe scraper frame.

Figure 6 is a vieywiniperspective' entire implement. Y

It' should beborne'. in mind that this implement'is des-igned forimaintainin'g the surof the face of'a highway in goodv condition. For tlllS-PUIPOSG I employ a vehicle frame and a scraper frame, only'fragmentary portions of thevehicle beingshown. The blades which, 0'- Iruse 1n thescraper'frame areshown in. sec.-

tion in Figure 2;.the blade lO'bemg secured to the angle iron 11 of the frame and be: ing reversible in position thereon. By this means when one edge of the bladebecomes worn dOIVIli to its angle lron support, the

bolts may be removed and the blades lie-- versed, which doubles the; life of the blades; and does away with the necessity of carry-- ing'a supply of new blades. The scrapen frame comprises four transverse angle lIOIISi 12.113, 1 1, and 15 which: are securedtatyariouspoints to theangle irons of therespec:-- tive'scraping: blades. The angle irons12'; and 13 are braced by the diagonal braces 16' and 17 which are secured together at their intersections and. they are further braced; by means of t-he'draw bars. 18'and 19.. The? angle irons 13 and. letareiconnecte'd; by the; diverging. braces 16. and 17". The angle: irons 12. and 13 are the longest of'therangle irons and the initial. and. heaviest strain. is applied to them, butthezsystem. of bracing: prevents any bucklingzoni other weakening. of'thesetwo angle irons. At thesides'of the. scraper frames areatwo scrapers 20 and: 21. extending: rearwardly and: inwardly at equal angles to theline of draft the bla'de 20'beeing a. little longer than the blade 21. At

blade 22 which terminates-short of theme-- dian line of the implementandzatithe' left hand side is'a similar but longer blade'23i extending almost to the blade 21. Both of? these blades are'secured to the angle irons 12 and 13,.and the blade 23 is additionallysecured to the. angle iron 14. In addition the blade 22 is braced'by means of the brace 2 1 extending to theiangle iron. 141', and the" blade 23' is braced by means of the braces 25 and 26 to the angle ironslta-nd 15. respec3 tively. r

The angle iron 30 isprojected rearwardly from the upper edge of theblade 20- and is'secured to the angle iron beam of'the blade 20. "Itfunctions as a brace for the. blade 27 and as a support for the gate 29. An additional brace 28 connects the blade 27- to the angle iron 15. The rearward eX- tension: of the angle iron of the" blade 20 has a more important function, however,' in supportingthe gate 29' shown in Figure 3.

This gate'29 is made of material similar to gle iron 30 is secured above the blade 20 as shown in Figure 3, and it has secured thereto two L-shaped pieces of strap iron 31. The gate v29has a short length of angle iron 32 bolted thereto, and projecting upwardly from the angle iron are ears 33 formed on the L-shaped pieces of strap iron which are secured to the angle iron 32. The ears 31 and 33 are so spaced that they may be pivotally secured to each other by means of the rod 34. Also secured to the angle iron 32 is a goose neck lever 35 which has a rod 36 secured thereto. As shown in Figure 1 this rod extends over the brace 28 and it may be locked in any desired position or left loose so that the gate may float. Any desired form of locking device may be employed for releasably looking the rod 36 to the brace 28.

The scraper frame is positioned underneath the vehicle frame and is suspended therefrom. The front portion is provided with two eyes 37 for securing it to the links 38, one of which is shown in Figure 4. The link 38 is pivotally connected in end to end relation with the link 39, and the link 40 is pivotally secured to the link 38 near its lower extremity. The link 41 is pivotally secured to the link 40 at its upper extremity and the links 39 and 41 are each pivotally secured to the arm 42 of the rack 43. This rack is secured between two standards 44 on the vehicle frame. The rack 43 is actuated through the screw 45 which is secured to the shaft 46 having the hand wheel 47 also secured thereto. The weight of the scraper frame, however, is such that the screw and rack will not hold the scraper in adjusted position, and in order to prevent the downward movement of the scraper frame there is provided a pivoted brake 48 which is held in contact with the hand wheel 47 by the tension spring 49, the brake being releasable by means of the pivoted foot lever 50. The scraper frame is permitted to float by the fact that the links 39 and 41 and-the links 38 and 40 will spread and come together as the scraper frame rises and falls. These links must, however, never be permitted to get into alignment with each other as this would look them into fixed position so that it would be necessary to leave the machine at frequent intervals to unlock them manually. To prevent the accidental locking of the levers into alignment, the links 39 and 41 are each bent inwardly as. shown in Figure 4, the bent ends limiting the inward movement of the links by the bent ends coming into contact with each other. In the working'in the surface of the road it is, however, sometimes necessary that the front portion of the scraper frame be held locked in fixed position. The latch lever 51 is pivotally secured to the pivot pin connecting the links 38 and 39 and it isnotc'hed to engage the projecting pivot pinconnecting the links 40 and 41.

The scraper frame is further connected to the vehicle frame through the chains 52,

53, and 54. The chains 52 and 53 are crossed chains which are secured at their respective ends to the scraper frame and to the vehicle frame but on opposite sides thereof. The chain 54 is connected at its ends to the opposite sides of the scraper frame and it is provided with a grab link 55 which is shown in Figures 1 and 5. On the vehicle frame is a pulley 56, and the grab link 55 is connected with the chain 57 passing over the pulley 56 and is secured to the shaft 58 having a hand wheel 59. The turning of the hand wheel 59 thus raises or lowers the rear portion of the scraper frame. The pulley 56 is adjustable in position transverse of the vehicle frame and the grab link 55 is slidable on the chain 54, thus providing for considerable lateral adjustment of the scraper frame when manipulating the hand wheel 59.

When transporting the implement to the road which is to be worked, the implement frame is held in raised position above the surface of the ground. The wheeled vehicle which supports the implement frame is drawn by a tractor. For working the road the implement frame is lowered through the hand wheels 47 and 59 until the scrapers rest on the surface of the road. The draw bars 18 and 19, having goose necks in the connections between the scraper frame and the vehicle frame, cause a downward thrust on the forward portion of the scraper frame. The forward portion of the scraper frame is heavier than the rear portion and'this, c0mbinedwith the downward thrust through the goose neck levers, results in the heaviest work being done by the scrapersat the front portion of the implement. The scrapers 20 and 23 tend to drag on the left hand side of the implement, while the scrapers 21, 22,

and 27 cause a drag on the opposite side of the implement which counterbalances the drag on the scrapers 20 and- 23 so that there is no side draft. All of the scrapers are inclined with respect to the line of draft, the result being that they cut with a sliding action. In passing over the road the scrapers 22 and 23 cut down hummocks in the road and transport the soil along their edges.

The soil which is transported by the scraper the road, but this soil is deposited in or near the ruts on the right hand side/ The soil which is loosened by the scrapers 20 and 21 is carried toward the center or rather'to the ruts on both sides. The further forward movement of the implement causes all this accumulated soil tobeengaged by the scrap-' er27 which drags the-massof soil over the The soil is thus rolled into the cavities and all of the rutsonboth sides of the road.

other depressions in the road, and the soil in the depressions is compacted first by the rollingand then by the weight of the rear por- 'tion of the implement when the scraper 27 therear portionof the scraper. frame becomes t'oo great; If the gateis then opened the excess of soil maybe discharged throughthe gate where it -slides along the-scraper 27- to-thecenter or side of the road. WVhen working stonysoil, it" is desirable that the gate be left in open-position so as to discharge the larger stones and rocks. At other times it may be desired to permit the gate to float. 'This affords a slight pressure against the soil in storage, but when the mass becomes too great, the pressure of the soil will open the gate to discharge the surplus.

The greatest'pressure of the soil is at the intersection of the blade 27 with the support for the blade 20. This induces a slight tilt in the implement frame, causing the implement to raise slightly at the point of intersection of the blades 21 and 27. To overcome this difiiculty the grab link 55 may be adjusted on the chain 54 toward the blade 20 and the hand wheel 59 may be turned so as to lift the left hand rear corner of the implement very slightly to thus throw the preponderance of weight on the right hand rearcorner. The pulley 56 is also adjustable toward the left so that it is possible to obtain considerable inequalities of lift on the right and left hand rear corners. W'hen soil is discharged at the right hand rear corner it leaves a slight trail on the road but when it is discharged from the left hand rear cor ner it moves along the blade 27 to the middle or edge of the road.

Having thus described my invention in such full, clear, and exact terms that its construotion and operation will be readily understood by others skilled in the art to which it pertains, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is l. A surface maintainer comprising i a wheeled frame and an implement frame suspended therefrom, said implement frame including a pair of lateral rearwardly converging scrapers of unequal lengths, a rearwardly and inwardly inclined scraper secured at the forward extremity of one of said pair of scrapers and terminating substantially c frame, a rearwardly and inwardly inclined scraper secured at'the forward-extremity: oft the otherof said pair of scrapers, said last named scraperbcinglonger thansaid first named rearwardly and inwardly" inclinedscraper, and a scraper secured at the rear extremities ofsaid pair of -rearwardly con verging scrapers and projecting outwardly beyondthe longer of said pair o'f rearwardlyconvergmg scrapers.

2. A surface I maintainer comprising a wheeledsupporting frame andan implement" frame suspended therefrom, said implementframe including a -front frame member; a?

pair oflateral rearwardly converging members of unequal lengths, and arearwardl'yy and laterally inclined member connecting the rear end portions of said pair ofconvergingmembers and projecting'outwardlybeyond-the longer of said pair of'converging members, said rearwardly and laterallyi'n clined member and said pair of converging members each having secured thereto a scraping blade, the scraping blade for the longer of said pair of convergin'g members being of such length that an opemng is provided between its rear extremity and the scraping blade of said rearwardly and laterally inclined member, and means for closing the opening.

3. A surface maintainer comprising a wheeled supporting frame and an implement frame suspended therefrom, said implement including a pair of lateral rearwardly con.- verging scraper blades of substantially equal lengths, a rearwardly and laterally inclined scraper blade secured to one of said pair of converging blades and providing an opening between it and the other of said pair of converging blades, and a gate forclosing the opening to provide for the storage of soil between said converging blades and said rearwardly and laterally inclined blades, and manually operable means for actuating said gate to opening and closing positions.

v 4. A surface maintainer comprising a wheeled supporting frame and an implement frame suspended therefrom, said implement frame including a pair of lateral in wardly converging angle iron members and a rearwardly and laterally'extending angle iron member connecting said pair of converging angle iron members at their rear extremities, scraping blades secured to each of said rearwardly and laterally extending angle iron member and said pair of converging angle iron members, one of the converging pair of said blades being provided with an opening at its rear extremity, a gate which is adapted to close the opening, said gate being pivotally secured at its upper edge to the angle iron and being movable to opening and closing positions, and a manually operable latch for latching said gate in the center line of draft of said implement its closing position or in any of its opening positions, said latch when in its inoperative position permitting said gate to yield under the pressure of the accumulated soil.

5. A surface maintainer including a wheeled frame and an implement frame suspended therefrom, said implement frame having secured thereto a pair of lateral rearwardly converging scraper blades and a transverse rearwardly and laterally projecting scraper blade, adjustable connections between said wheeled supporting frame and said implement frame for raising and lowering said implement frame, said connections including links at the forward portions of said frame, said links being pivotally connected in quadrilateral form to permit the floating of said implement frame, means for locking said links together against pivotal movement, said connections including also a rear transverse chain on said implement frame, a chain and a Windlass therefor on said wheeled frame, and a grab link connection between said two chains whereby the rear portion of said implement frame may he tilted by adjusting said two chains and operating said Windlass.

6. A surface scraping implement ing rearwardly converging beams having scraper blades secured thereto, a rear barrier connecting said beams at their rear eX tremities and projecting laterally beyond one of said beams, the scraper blade on the side of the projecting extremity of said bar to one side of the center line of travel thereof, and a closure for the opening.

In witness whereof I afiiX m si nature.

oAa-L o. JOHNSON.

includ 

